Last Thoughts
by 1920sVintageGirl
Summary: Mary did what everyone told her could never be done. She went out into the forest of hands and teeth and lived long enough to see the ocean. Now,so soon after accomplishing her dream, she lays dying. These are her thoughts. A short one-shot.


**AN: This is a short one shot that was my summer english project. I do not own any of the characters mentioned or the book (obviously) they are the property of Carrie Ryan I just wanted to manipulate them a bit. Hope you like it!** =D

"_In my world, there are simple truths. _

_The Sisterhood always knows best._

_The Guardians will protect and serve._

_The Unconsecrated will never relent."_

The ocean is just as I imagined it would be. An unending mass of blue water stretching on as far as the eye can see, building up into strong waves that crash against the stone pillars of the Earth, the smell of salt and the spray of water. The tide moves in and out in a soft continuous pattern, coming up to my neck and then sinking back down to my toes.

The water begins to turn red around me. The cuts all over my body sting at the contact of the salty water before eventually become numb, and at last the pain begins receding. My mind is hazy and the sounds around me start to fade away one by one. My vision becomes blurry and unfocused. My body feels heavy and immovable, but I still smile. I have no regret over my choice to leave. Even now, as I come closer and closer to death with each pull of the tide. I have no fear of what will come. I may be dying, but I am dying free. Free of the metal gates that had trapped me in a life I could not live. The life the Sisterhood had made for us-a life without choices and a life of lies. A life lived in fear.

Growing up, the Sisterhood always told us that there was nothing worth living for past the fences. That is was nothing but forest and the Unconsecrated. They tell us we are all that is left of humanity and that it is our duty to carry on the human race so that it does not cease to exist. They say that the only reason we are able to continue our way of life and not perish along with the rest of the world is because we do not take stupid risks by trying to tempt the Unconsecrated and we do not tempt God's wrath , but by dedicating ourselves to God and each other.

That is why when we make our choices it is not for ourselves, but for the good of the village. That is why when we marry it is not out of love, but out of commitment. That is why when we have children it is not out of want for a family, but because it is our duty to ensure the continuation of our villages existence. No one questions why we must live this way. No one asks why we continue to have to live this life. Sister Tabitha's words ring in my head, _"…they were trying to cheat God, trying to cheat death. Trying to change his will…This is what happens when you go against God's will. This is His retribution. This is our penance." _

I do not regret my actions, however reckless they may have been. I made my choice to leave the safety of the village and protection of the guardians. By leaving, I was escaping the prison gates that have caged me since birth. Even as I lay here dying, I cannot regret anything. As a child, I dreamed of this day. I told myself that I would go past the fences into the world people had stopped believing in. I told myself that I would make it to live a life outside the forest. Outside of the life the Sisterhood has forced upon us.

Now I lay here in the shallow waters of the ocean, the bodies of dead unconsecrated drifting around me. I am in the place I have visited only in dreams and my mothers stories. I feel no sadness or disappointment in not making it as far as had dreamed because I have made it farther than anyone thought possible. I have done what people said would never be done. I left the village, going past the forest into the world where only death lies and I survived. I survived the forest of hands and teeth.

While I have no regrets, I do have one wish. I wish that, wherever he is right now, Travis could see me. I wish that he could see the smile on my face, as I smell the salt of the ocean, feel the cool of its water against my skin, and understand that we have done it. We have made it to the one place people said did not exist. We have made it to the place of our dreams, the place of our hope.

In the last few moments of my life, I have never felt more alive.


End file.
